Cheteshwar Pujara became the eight Indian batter to score 7000 runs in Test match cricket on Friday (December 23) at the Sher-E-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka on Friday. He achieved the feat during his innings of 24 off 55 balls in the second Test match on Day 2 of the second Test match of the two-match Test series.

The right-handed batter needed just 16 more before the start of the day’s play to reach this milestone and when his turn came, he brought up the landmark with ease. The achievement puts Pujara in an elite list as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly are the only other names in this club.

𝐇𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟖𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝟕𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐬.#TeamIndia https://t.co/XsSeRJZIlD

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 23, 2022

Good County Season helped Pujara comeback into the team

It is worth highlighting that while Pujara had lost his place in the India side after the team’s tour of South Africa and he wasn’t included in the squad for the home Test matches against Sri Lanka, he decided to play County Cricket where he scored lots of runs for Sussex to force the selectors to call him back. Consequently, Pujara came back for India’s one-off Test against England and has been part of the team ever since.

While Pujara played a pivotal role in India’s win in the first Test match as he scored 90 in the first innings, missing out on a hundred before going onto make it count in the second innings by scoring an unbeaten 100, the fastest of his career, he failed to make a big score in the first innings of the second Test after getting set, falling to left-arm spinner Taijul Islam.

The hundred earlier in the series for Pujara was his first in Test cricket since January 2019.

Talking about the match, Team India dismissed Bangladesh for 227 in the first innings and are 86/3 at Lunch On Day 2 in response. Virat Kohli (18*) and Rishabh Pant (12*) remain unbeaten at the wicket.